Editors’ Choice 2009: Black Diamond Orbit Lantern

Bright, light, and rechargeable–the perfect camp lantern is here.

Review by: The Backpacker Editors

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Black Diamond Orbit (Steve Howe)

No, you don’t need a lantern. But you’ll want this one. It’s a kitchen light, campfire, and reading lamp wrapped into 4.4 ounces. And it’s so packable that even our staff minimalists deigned to carry it. We love the adjustable LED, which dims for candlelight dinners or brightens for poker games. It collapses to four inches for packing (it’s five and a half fully extended).

And during six months of testing, we never had a failure despite dropping it, leaving it out in storms, and carelessly cramming it into packs. Battery life is also superior: 11 hours on the brightest setting. Green bonus: A plug-in rechargeable battery pack (six-hour life) is now available as well ($30, sold separately). $30; 4.4 oz. with 4 AAA batteries; bdel.com

Sponsored: After looking at a map and seeing where you’re heading, it’s always amazing to see it appear up ahead of you in real life. Here’s our Editor-in-Chief hiking to two unnamed tarns near the headwaters of Lime Creek, about 3.5 miles west of Molas Pass on the Colorado Trail. Continued thanks to Mountain Hardwear for making the #ColoradoTrailFest come to life. #LiveBreatheHike #MountainHardwear Photo By Kennan Harvey